Razors, razor blades and razor blade dispensers

ABSTRACT

The invention provides the combination of a razor blade 10 and holder 12 for the razor blade, wherein the cutting edges of the blade are constituted by the periphery of a number of holes 10b in the blade, and the holder is provided with means 13 by which the blade can be picked up from a razor blade dispenser 16, the holder maintaining the picked-up blade in an arched condition for shaving. The dispenser may have at least one compartment in which an unused blade 10 can be retained in an arched condition whereby parallel sides of the blade can be engaged by the holder 12 which increases the flexure of the blade to release it from the compartment.

This invention relates to razors, razor blades, and razor bladedispensers.

More particularly the invention relates to razors for use with razorblades which are in the form of a metal foil which has a number of holestherein, the periphery of each hole constituting a cutting edge. Theinvention also relates to dispensers in which replacement blades of thekind described are stored prior to use and to which used blades may bereturned.

The invention will be better understood from the following descriptionof one construction of razor, razor blade and dispenser in accordancewith the invention, which will be described, by way of example only,with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a razor blade in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line II--II in FIG. 1, on anenlarged scale,

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the razor,

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 but of the head and upper end of thehandle only and on an enlarged scale, showing the razor in the shavingposition,

FIG. 5 is a similar view to FIG. 4 but showing the razor in the bladechanging position,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a moulding which forms a part of the head ofthe razor,

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of a part only of the moulding shownin FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a sectional side elevation of the head of the razor taken onthe line VIII--VIII in FIG. 4 but with a sub-assembly of an operatingbutton and the blade carrier shown separately above the rest of thehead,

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the dispenser showing one used blade in theleft hand end of one compartment and an unused blade in the right handend of the other compartment,

FIG. 10 is a similar view to FIG. 9, but with the additional of the headof the razor in a position in which a left handed person, holding thedispenser in their right hand, and the razor in their left hand, hasreturned a used blade to the left hand end of one compartment and is inprocess of picking up an unused blade from the right hand end of thesame compartment, and

FIG. 11 is an end elevational view of the dispenser in the direction ofthe arrow XI in FIG. 9.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 it will be seen that the foil blade 10of the present embodiment is of generally rectangular form with cut-awaycorners 10a, and that it has five lines of holes 10b of elongated shapewith rounded ends, each line consisting of eight holes 10b. Theperiphery region of each hole 10b is deformed out of the plane of theblade, as can be seen in FIG. 2, and the periphery is sharpened to forma cutting edge 10c, the tip of which has chord widths comparable tothose of conventional razor blades. Preferably the blades 10 are of astainless steel alloy and the holes 10b are formed by an initial pierceand form operation followed by hardening and grinding to form a roughcutting edge which is finished by an electrolytic reducing process. Thefacets of the cutting edges 10c are given a coating ofpolytetrafluoroethylene.

Referring now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, in particular, these show the razorwhich comprises a handle 11 which at its upper end has a head 12designed to carry the blades. In use, a blade 10 is held by engagementof its two longer edges in a track formed by opposing inwardly-directedflanges 13a (FIGS. 5 and 8) of a metal carrier 13. The distance betweenthe flanges 13a is such that the blade 10 is arched with the cuttingedges 10c directed outwardly. In use, the razor will normally be movedto and fro across the skin in a direction parallel to the shorter edgeof the blade. However, the blade 10 will also shave whilst being movedin any other direction across the skin, due to the fact that thecomplete periphery of each hole 10b is in the form of the cutting edge10c.

The displacement of the centres of the holes 10b relative to one anotherin alternate lines, serves to ensure that when the blade 10 is movedacross the skin in a direction parallel to its shorter edge hairs notcut because of the land between holes 10b in one row will be cut by thehole 10b in the next row, which is in line with the land in thepreceding row. The effective shaving angle of the longer sides of eachhole of any cutting edge 10c is determined by the angle of the bisectorof the facets, by the curvature imparted to the blade when held betweenthe flanges 13a, and by the distance between the longer sides of eachhole.

The blade carrier 13 is designed to be selectively movable by a thumbbutton 14 between two positions relative to the remainder of the head 12of the razor. These two positions are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the"shaving position" being shown in FIG. 4 and the "loading position"being shown in FIG. 5. The "shaving position" is that in which the razoris used for shaving, and the carrier 13 is only moved forward to the"loading position" when it is desired to replace the blade 10.

The razor head 12 comprises a cowl 12a to the underside of which isfitted a plastic moulding 15, FIGS. 6 and 7, which has ears 15a at eachextremity adjacent each end of the carrier 13. In the shaving positionthe ears 15a cover the respective ends of the blade 10 to protect theuser against any inadvertent cutting or discomfort which might resultfrom the engagement of the ends of the blade 10 with the skin of theuser.

The moulding 15 is secured to the underside of the cowl 12a by twoscrews (not shown) which pass through holes 15b in the moulding intoscrew-threaded blind holes (not shown) in the underside of the cowl 12a.The moulding 15 has a central slideway 15c in which a depending flexibletongue 14a of the button 14 is a sliding fit, the tip 14b of the tongue14a being engageable in a forward slot 15d or a rearward slot 15e in thebase of the slide 15c. The carrier 13 is secured to the button 14 byforwardly extending projections 14c which extend through an aperture inthe carrier 13. The tongue 14a is resilient and its tip 14b is bevelled.The edges of the slot 15e and the rear edge of slot 15d are rounded andby forward pressure on the ledge 14d the button 14 can be moved forwardwith the tip 14b of the tongue 14a lifting out of the slot 15e andstopping when it enters the slot 15d and its forwardly directed face 14eengages the face of an abutment 15f in the slideway 15c. The carrier 13is then in the loading position shown in FIG. 5.

A used blade is replaced with the carrier 13 in the loading position,the carrier 13 being brought into engagement with the dispenser 16 atthe open end and opposite a compartment where there is no blade 10 inthe section of the compartment adjacent the open end (in the conditionshown in FIG. 9 this would be the lower left-hand compartment). Therazor head is moved across the dispenser (in a direction from left toright as seen in the drawings) with the carrier 13 adjacent the bottomof the trough in the dispenser. The carrier 13 is located by seating onledges 16a, 16a in the walls of the dispenser and by passing under pairsof guide-rails 16b, 16b, formed in the walls of the dispenser. Withfurther transverse movement of the razor relative to the dispenser theright hand end of the blade 10 meets a stop 16c upstanding from the baseof the dispenser and this stop 16c prevent further movement of the blade10 into the dispenser. Continuing movement of the holder brings theflanges 13a of the carrier 13 into engagement with the unused blade sothat, as shown in FIG. 10, continuing movement of the holderprogressively releases the used blade from the flanges 13a whilst thelatter engage the unused blade. Eventually, further movement of theholder is prevented by engagement of the end of the flanges 13a with theend wall 16d of the dispenser and in this position the unused blade isfully engaged in the carrier 13. The used blade partly unflexes from itsarched condition as it is freed from the flanges 13a and is trappedunder the guide-rails 16b, 16b. The blade 10, held by the carrier 13, isthen released from the dispenser 16 by a tilting movement of the handle11, the carrier 13 being released from under catches 16f, 16f as aresult of the limited flexibility of the dispenser resulting from therelatively thin plastic material of which it is composed. The cut-awaycorners 10a at the end of a blade facilitate entry into the tract formedby the flanges 13a. Additionally, the end of the unused blade is lifteda short distance off the ledges 16a, 16a by pips 16e, 16e (as can beseen in FIG. 11) to allow the ends of the flanges 13a to pass under theend of the blade. The blade can then be moved into the shaving positionby rearward movement of the button 14.

As can be seen in FIG. 10, the width of the ears 15a is greater than thewidth of the compartments in the dispenser 16. Consequently it is notpossible for the blade carrier 13 inadvertently to move to the shavingposition by downward pressure on the razor during loading and unloading.

It will be appreciated that although the dispenser illustrated isdesigned to hold two unused blades in the sections at one end and tohave deposited therein, in due course, used blades in the othersections, any desired number of compartments can be provided. Moreover,other mechanisms than that described can be used for moving the headinto the loading position.

I claim:
 1. The combination of a razor blade and holder for the razorblade, wherein said blade comprises a generally rectangular foil havinga plurality of holes extending therethrough, the peripheries of saidholes forming cutting edges in the blade and the holder is provided withmeans by which the blade can be picked up from a razor blade dispenser,said means including a blade receiving track formed by a spaced pair ofinwardly directed flanges adapted to engage opposite sides of the blade,the spacing between said flanges being less than the distance betweensaid sides when said blade is unrestrained, whereby said blade ismaintained in a convexly flexed condition for shaving, wherein theholder has means for covering each end of said track when a blade isheld in said track, whereby each end of the blade is shielded fromengagement with the skin of the user, andwherein the means on the holderfor picking up a blade is movable relative to the handle of the holderbetween a blade pick-up position at which the ends of said track areuncovered and a shaving position at which said ends are covered.
 2. Thecombination according to claim 1, wherein the blade has a plurality oflines of said holes.
 3. The combination according to claim 2, whereinthe holes in alternate lines are staggered relative to one another. 4.The combination according to claim 3, wherein the periphery of a hole isdeformed out of the plane of the blade.
 5. The combination according toclaim 3, wherein at least the finishing of the formation of the cuttingedges is by an electrolytic process.